Before-before-before-before-before-after I spent a very, very long time thinking about it and researching, visited many hospitals that were mentioned for nose surgery for consultations, and had surgery. I am now 2 months post-op.. Since Whee Plastic Surgery is a place without that many reviews, it was hard for me to find reviews until before surgery too, so I’m leaving this review hoping it may be helpful for anyone considering it. Since I was young, I had a major complex about my facial asymmetry, my crooked and twisted nose, hump nose, and arrow-shaped nose. On top of that, one nostril was blocked, so breathing through my nose was painfully difficult. Because of chronic rhinitis, my nose was often blocked, so I couldn’t breathe through my nose and had no choice but to mouth-breathe. First of all, I wanted to correct my crooked nose with osteotomy without using foreign materials like silicone, reposition the alar cartilage using autologous cartilage, and improve the depressed glabella/nasal bridge area by raising it. To solve both my appearance-related complex and functional problems, I spent a very long time thinking about rhinoplasty and researching it, and 2 years ago I came across the blog run by Dr. Hwang Se Hwi. Through the blog, there were explanations about how functional problems including the nasal valve are improved, how the technique of forcibly raising the nasal tip by placing a strut in the septum deviates from normal anatomical structure, how it should be done to avoid deviating as much as possible from the normal structure, and the correlation between release-repositioning-vector. Reading each post taught me a lot. I’m currently studying design that handles 3D objects, so I’m very interested in structure, and the concept of vectors considering tensile force and compressive force in support structures, as well as force and direction, really resonated with me. When I visited in person and consulted with the doctor, he first said that depending on what nose shape I wanted, cartilage would be shaped and grafted to match that image. He also said that for improving a hump/arrow-shaped nose and a crooked nose, because the cheekbones and maxilla have different volumes and heights, and because the central axis differs by area from the glabella to the philtrum and down to the chin tip, it is not possible to perfectly correct a crooked nose, but he would proceed with surgery in a direction that improves how it looks. I went to consultations at several hospitals, but Dr. Hwang explained the surgical method and reasons in the most convincing detail, so I felt deeply moved and trusted him. I went for one more consultation before surgery and prepared several images of the look I wanted to improve toward. We planned surgery in the direction of restoring the nasal tip support structure with costal cartilage, raising the glabella area of the nasal bridge with septal cartilage, and repositioning the alar cartilage. Right after surgery, rather than pain in my nose, the area where the costal cartilage was harvested hurt so much. When there was gauze in my nose, it was so hard because of mouth-breathing, my eyes hurt, even my ears felt muffled, and when I lay down it was even harder to breathe. It was a time full of pain. Because I had osteotomy, I kept the splint on a bit longer, and because the swelling was so severe, I only had the gauze removed from one side around day 5. I still remember that day. After the gauze was removed from both sides, unlike before surgery, I felt air rushing in. I had lived all this time without knowing that breathing through both nostrils could feel this comfortable, and I was so happy. The doctor really emphasized cold compresses on the first day, but I fell asleep while doing them, so I couldn’t do much.. The next day my face was almost swollen as if it would burst, but after about 2 weeks, the swelling had gone down enough that I looked almost human and could go outside bare-faced. At first, because of swelling, the nasal tip was a bit hard and looked plump from the front, but each day the volume is gradually decreasing and becoming slimmer. My nostrils have also settled naturally, so I like them. Even now, the tissue around the nasal bridge and tip still seems to be settling, so it looks like it may be slightly tilted to the side, but I like the nasal tip shape and overall line, so I’m watching the progress thinking it will settle well. The doctor said that around 6 months after surgery and up to 1-2 years, scar tissue changes into normal tissue and the shape changes and settles, so I’m waiting comfortably for it to become even prettier.
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